혼 (Hon) – Soul

Cast:
Lee Seo Jin as Shin Ryu
Im Joo Eun as Yoon Ha Na
Ahn Seo Hyun (안서현) as Ha Na (child)
Lee Jin as Lee Hye Won
Park Ji Yeon as Yoon Doo Na
Kim Ji Won as Doo Na (child)
Park Gun Il as Jung Shi Woo
Kim Sung Ryung as (Ha Na & Doo Na’s mother)
Kim Gab Soo as Baek Do Shik
Yoo Yun Suk as Baek Joong Chan
Lee Kyu Han as Seo Jun Hee
Chu Hun Yub as Kim Yoon Oh
Jung Da Sol as Kan Ho Sa
Jun Bo Ram as So Yi

Genre:
Horror, Tragedy

Plot:
Shin Ryu is a renowned criminologist and criminal profiler, but because of his own past and the loss of his family, he has a different sense of justice: vigilante justice. He sees bad men in society use their wealth and power to free themselves of their crimes and so he begins his own judgment of those criminals. Lately a number of horrific murders have taken place in the area and Shin Ryu is set on finding the culprits.

Ha Na and Doo Na are sisters, but an uneasiness floats about the family because of a traumatic experience that Ha Na has when she is a small girl. Ha Na is susceptible to the presence of spirits of the dead and can see the world of the dead.

Without meaning to, Ha Na becomes involved in a case of bullying, and because of her involvement, her sister Doo Na dies. This is just the beginning of the tragedy. Ha Na becomes overwhelmed by a horde of dead spirits. Shin Ryu accidentally discovers Ha Na’s strong connection to the spirits and begins to control her using hypnotism.

How will Shin Ryu and Baek Do Shik’s battle play out with Shin having control of Ha Na and the angry spirits of the dead? How many more will die in this struggle? Is this vigilante punishment all in the name of justice? Who is this Shi Woo and why does he have such a large collection of knives in his room?

Review:
Due to a number of reasons, I have been hard pressed to get any drama viewing in, but I finally managed to snag the short season of Soul. I must say I was very impressed…at first, and the end it just kind of turned into a “must finish this series because I need to see how it ends” mantra.

Not so much because of Lee Seo Jin, I enjoyed the first five or six episodes of this drama immensely. I was so engrossed with it I had trouble waiting for the subtitles to come out. Thankfully Haru Fansubs did finish the project and here I am giving a review on it. Im Joo Eun did a terrific job as Ha Na. Horror scenes are definitely difficult to act out right to fit the moods, but she seemed to have done as well as any I supposed. More so than the acting, I loved the storyline. Probably all of you are familiar with my love of tragic heroines and I think Ha Na fit the model very nicely.

All of the supporting cast were very well filled, even the youngsters. I feel that the whole mood of the drama was very consistent all throughout and the whole thing felt very solid. The ending became kind of tight I supposed, predictable too, and I guess the ending did do the drama some justice but it still left me pining for more of what happened afterward. The theme song was also very very nice:

Anyways, I don’t have time to write more, but I loved the drama mostly! I think for the most part the viewership ratings totally misrepresent its solidity as a drama!

Rating:
4.7/5.0

正義の味方 – Seigi no Mikata (Ally of Justice)

Cast:
Shida Mirai as Nakata Yoko
Yamada Yu as Nakata Makiko
Mukai Osamu as Yoshikawa Naoki
Hongo Kanata as Okamoto Riku
Sano Shiro as Nakata Goro
Tanaka Yoshiko as Nakata Haruko
Tokui Yuu as Nogami Koichiro
Hiraizumi Sei as Yoshikawa Katsuo

Genre:
Romance, Comedy

Plot:
Nakata Yoko is the younger sister of Makiko, a beautiful and headstrong woman who never takes no for an answer. To the others around her, she is an idol to be worshiped and also the perfect role model in society. She is intelligent as well as efficient and she often amazes her co-workers at the government office. Yoko’s friends all think that she is quite lucky to have such an amazing sister, but nobody seems to understand that Yoko’s sister is actually a demonic slave driver with peculiar tastes.

One day Makiko meets a fellow government worker Naoki. Yoko is put to work to try and hook her up with Naoki.

Will Makiko ever get the man she wants? Will Yoko continue to put up with her sister’s evil ways? What will happen with Naoki and his family discover Makiko’s true nature?

Review:
At first, I wasn’t too interested by the plot of this drama. I did not see how they could make a drama interesting with such an idea, but it turned out to be a very rewarding drama. I feel that it really grasped the family dynamics of the Nakata family. Yoko and Makiko indeed have a weird relationship, but I could feel their chemistry. There were hints throughout and also in the last episode that were extremely touching.

To say that this was a comedy is being spot on. I found this drama extremely entertaining. Shida Mirai is a great young actress. Her scenes are all natural and cute and I feel that for the most part she pulled off this drama. The supporting family casts were all really great as well in their parts. All in all a very solid drama and production.

I had one thing that wasn’t exactly the greatest, and that was the ending concerning Yoko and Riku. Honestly I was a bit confused at how the ending depicted their relationship, but I guess its a deeper message that deals with the drama on a whole. In the end we learn a lot about both sisters and that what Yoko first believed to be evil turned out to be a weird type of sisterly love. I think anyone looking for a relaxing drama will really enjoy this one.

Rating:
4.8/5.0

微笑在我心 (Wei Xiao Zai Wo Xin) – Always Smile

Cast:
Zhang Jia Ni 张嘉倪 as Tian Wei
Ming Dao 明道 as Liang Yu Fang
Achel Chang 張芯瑜 as Du Yun Er
Jill Hsu 徐婕兒 as Zhao Xi
Huang Meng 黄勐 as Yan Shi Guang
Ma Ke 馬可 as Lei Hong

Genre:
Romance

Plot:
Liang Yu Fang is the grandson of a large hotel owner and is next in line to take over the reigns. There is one problem though, Yu Fang despises the responsibility and instead wants to pursue his own dreams as a design artist. When he returns back from his oversea studies, both his grandfather and older sister force him to start learning about the hotel.

At about the same time he meets Tian Wei, a hard-working and innocent girl who lives with her alcoholic father and autistic younger brother. Because her father tries to drink away his depression all the time, the running of the household and moneymaking is left to Tian Wei. Day in day out she works multiple jobs and still doesn’t have enough to pay off her father’s death. The only things that keep her going are the thought of curing her brother and the memories of her departed mother. Her mother died because of singing, and even though Tian Wei dreams of becoming a singer, she is not allowed to sing.

Without knowing Yu Fang’s true identity, she slowly falls for his devoted charm. What will happen when she discovers the truth? What if there was another woman at the hotel who was plotting something evil against the Liang family? When Yu Fang’s sister and grandfather try to match him with Zhao Xi, how will Yu Fang deal with Tian Wei and his family? In order to make money, Tian Wei starts singing again, will she ever become a star? When everything seems to be falling apart, will Tian Wei and Yu Fang be able to keep their love?

Review:
I normally stay away from idol dramas. I guess this is pretty close to an idol drama, but apparently it was aired on cctv and hunan tv so its a mainland china idol drama. Most of the cast have appeared at some time or another in Taiwanese dramas. The thing that perked my interest to this drama was Zhang Jia Ni. When I started watching Dreams Link, her character and innocent personality attracted me greatly. Although I never finished that drama (I think I will eventually) I thought she was a very beautiful actress. I tentatively started watching it, and I must admit, I was a little disappointed.

The dialogue and story line are very cliche. Not only was it cliche, it was extremely poorly written. To be blunt, I found the plot to be very predictable, very dragged out, and very un-stimulating, if there could be such a description. This doesn’t mean the drama didn’t have its highlights. In this drama, I realized that Zhang Jia Ni just has the looks of a ‘good’ character. Her voice and actions and also kind nature let her fit the role well, but if she were to act another type of character, I don’t have the confidence to say she would be a good actress. That is beside the point however, since I enjoyed watching her.

The supporting cast seemed to be decent, and I must applaud Jill for a decently invigorating performance as the antagonist. It seemed the drama revealed her story in a poor manner and I felt that it could have been done better. Her expressions often give away her true thoughts, but at the same time, they really confused me about how she felt about the other characters. I believe her acting is headed in the right direction, but in order to be a more dynamic character and affirm her thoughts on each character, she needs to better distinguish her different emotions. A lot of times I couldn’t tell what her true intentions were in certain scenes.

Ming Dao. Let me see. He’s a boy band singer. I don’t want to say too much about his acting. I’ve seen plenty of his works, such as Legend of Star Apple and also Knock Knock Loving You. I’ve noticed, especially in this drama, that he really likes to enunciate his dialogue, which makes it a little awkward when he is saying all his lines. I don’t have too much against him, but I think I prefer him playing the antagonist.

I think the best parts of this drama were the music. I think that most of the songs are actually sung by Zhang Jia Ni, as she did in Dreams Link. She has a beautiful voice and my favorite parts of the drama were watching her sing on stage. When she dresses up she looks amazing and her expressions are to die for.

I may have been a little critical while reviewing this drama since I do have a lot of beef against idol dramas. If you love Ming Dao or Zhang Jia Ni and you want to watch a simple-minded and entertaining drama, don’t be afraid to take a look at this one. It is a bit childish to my opinion, but there are still a few cry cry scenes. The humor is a bit dry as they are cliche, but I guess it still worked on the occasional chance.

Rating:
3.3/5.0

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